R.S. Ingermanson

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About R.S. Ingermanson
Randy Ingermanson wants to take you on an adventure to ancient Jerusalem.
He has worked on archaeological digs in both Jerusalem and Magdala and thinks it's fun to swing a pick, sift dirt, haul buckets, move stones, fill sandbags, wash pottery, and sweat like a pig with dozens of other crazy people. A favorite memory is facing down two pickpockets in a back alley in Jerusalem. On his bucket list is a wish to someday windsurf across the Sea of Galilee.
Randy likes to mix science, religion, history, romance, philosophy, and adventure into his novels. That's just asking for trouble, but he doesn't seem to know any better, and his friends are too kind to explain the matter.
He has a PhD from UC Berkeley in theoretical physics and has won two Christy awards for excellence in Christian fiction. Library Journal has called him "one of the best authors of biblical fiction today."
Randy lives in the Pacific Northwest and works as a manservant to two surly and demanding cats. Visit Randy at www.ingermanson.com.
For a limited time, you can get a free copy of Randy's Christy-award-winning novel Transgression at www.ingermanson.com/follow. A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul.
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Blog postPalm Sunday celebrates the beginning of the week in which Jesus made his final visit to Jerusalem.
Take a look at the map of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives shown below, which I drew for my novel Son of Mary. I’ve added three arrows to mark important points along the path Jesus followed:
Jesus came up the Jericho Road from the east and passed by the villages of Bethphage and Bethany. I’ve added a red arrow at the location of a modern-day lookout point, just across from1 month ago Read more -
Blog postPontius Pilate was the governor of the Roman province of Judea from AD 26 to 36. He’s famous for presiding over the trial of Jesus of Nazareth and sending Jesus to the cross.
We don’t have a huge amount of information on Pilate, but there’s a famous story that shows what kind of a man he was. You can read the story yourself in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus, in his book Antiquities of the Jews 18:60-62, and also in his earlier work Wars of the Jews 2:175-177.
The s4 months ago Read more -
Blog postIt might seem absurd to talk about Jesus celebrating Christmas. You can easily think of a long list of Christmas-type things we do now that Jesus never did.
Certainly, he never hung up his stocking on the chimney on Christmas Eve. He never wrapped presents and put them under the Christmas tree. He never sang Christmas carols. He never listened to Handel’s Messiah. He never sat down to a turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce meal with his family.
But the point of Christ5 months ago Read more -
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Blog postA Thanksgiving dinner Jesus never ate It might seem silly to ask if Jesus celebrated Thanksgiving. Obviously, he never sat down to a dinner of turkey and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. He never watched the Bears play the Lions on TV. He never had to listen to weird Uncle Joe talk about his very annoying political views—the ones everyone else in the family hates.
But the American holiday of Thanksgiving goes back to a feast in 1621 shared by the fledgling Plymouth colony and the loc6 months ago Read more -
Blog postIn the time of Jesus, his family and friends and countrymen thought there were two main ways to salvation, and they argued about which was the better way.
Before we talk about these Two Ways of Salvation, we should first define what we mean by “salvation.” It meant something different two thousand years ago than it does today.
If you ask an American Christian in the 21st century what “salvation” means, they’ll tell you that it has to do with going to heaven when you die. And m10 months ago Read more -
Blog postAccording to the gospel of Mark, (see Mark 6:3), Jesus of Nazareth had four brothers and at least two sisters.
That raises the question of how, exactly, these siblings were related to Jesus. Over the centuries, people have suggested three theories:
They were children of Mary and Joseph. They were children of Joseph by a previous wife. They were cousins of Jesus. I discussed all this in a previous blog post, Mother’s Day With Jesus, so I won’t go over that gro1 year ago Read more -
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Blog postIn my last blog post, Jesus and Palm Sunday, I talked about how Jesus committed sedition by climbing on a donkey and riding down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.
Every Jew of his time knew the tradition of “Mashiach’s Donkey”—the oracle of the prophet Zechariah about a coming Mashiach (“Messiah” in English) who would someday enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
They knew many other traditions about Mashiach from oracles in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Micah, a1 year ago Read more -
Blog postPalm Sunday celebrates the day Jesus entered Jerusalem in a remarkable procession that sealed his death warrant.
Historians don’t agree on the exact year of this extraordinary event. According to the gospel of John, it was a year in which Passover Eve fell on a Friday.
Most scholars would put this in either the year AD 33 or AD 30. I think the evidence leans a little toward AD 33, but it wouldn’t shock me if it was AD 30 instead.
On that fateful Sunday, Jes1 year ago Read more -
Blog postNothing seems more ridiculous than to ask whether Jesus celebrated Valentine’s Day.
For one thing, Saint Valentine lived about 250 years after Jesus, and the feast honoring him was established in AD 496.
For another thing, many people would say that it’s sacrilegious and crazy to think Jesus might have had a wife or a girlfriend.
But a surprising number of people think that Jesus was secretly married, and that his wife was Mary Magdalene.
<1 year ago Read more -
Blog postSay the word “Samaritan” out loud, and most people will think you’re talking about a good guy. Somebody who’d stop to change your tire in the pouring rain. Somebody who’d help you make your rent payment if you were about to get evicted. Somebody who’d rescue a baby from a burning building.
The phrase “good Samaritan” is such a part of the English language that it’s easy to forget that it was once a contradiction in terms.
When Jesus was alive, his people believed that the only1 year ago Read more
Titles By R.S. Ingermanson
But you never thought you’d ever actually go there.
Until now.
Your name is Rivka Meyers, and you are a total misfit.
You are a Messianic Jew, studying at UC Berkeley. Misfit.
You are a woman getting your PhD in archaeology—a man’s field. Misfit.
You are in Israel working on an archaeological dig, pretending to be someone you’re not. Misfit.
Your Israeli co-worker on the dig tries to set you up with his cousin, Ari Kazan. Disaster.
Because Ari likes you. And you haven’t told him you’re Messianic.
Ari is a theoretical physicist who wrote some crazy paper on time travel. Somehow, an experimental physicist, Damien West, thought it was a good idea.
Damien came all the way from the US to try to build a wormhole to test Ari’s crazy theory.
Damien is obsessed with safety, which seems a little weird.
But he has a personal reason for wanting time travel to be real, and it’s a lot weird.
Only he’s not telling anyone that reason.
Damien wants to go back in time and kill the apostle Paul.
Somehow, Damien gets the wormhole working, sort of.
Somehow, he tricks you into going through the wormhole, without telling you where you’re going, or when.
Somehow, you find yourself in Jerusalem, AD 57, completely unprepared and completely bedazzled. This is where you always wanted to visit. It would be dumb to leave without looking around. But too late, you realize it’s even dumber to stay.
Because you’re the worst possible misfit in the City of God. You didn’t come dressed for a place and time where women are required to cover their bodies. Where women don’t talk to men. Where women are property, not people. Where violating the rules could get you killed.
Back in the lab, Damien isn’t worried about you. He packs his gun, sets a timer to shut down the wormhole, and walks through into ancient Jerusalem. If he calculated the dates right, he’ll be lining up the apostle Paul in his gunsights next Tuesday.
And you can’t stop him, even if you figure out what he’s up to.
There’s a loose cannon in this picture.
Ari Kazan.
The guy who has a weird, crazy, stupid crush on you.
The guy who’s mad at you for not telling him you’re a Messianic.
The guy who just found out Damien West has made a fool of him.
What’s Ari going to do?
About The Book
Transgression is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about learning to stand up for yourself, when you just want to be let alone. It’s about making hard decisions. It’s about asking whether life has meaning and whether God exists — and becoming a badass fighter for justice, even if you don’t have the answers.
By a crazy accident, you got stuck there, and now it’s home.
You’re going to live and die in ancient Jerusalem.
You have four years before all hell breaks loose on the City of God.
Your name is Rivka Meyers, and you are a total misfit.
You time-traveled from 21st century Jerusalem back to the year AD 57. Misfit.
You are a woman who knows the future, living in a culture where women are expected to shut up and obey. Misfit.
You made the mistake of telling what you know, and now everyone calls you the witch woman. Misfit.
You have a photographic memory, and that’s your curse. Because you read all the history books and you know what’s coming. Retribution for the City of God.
You know that in April of the year 66 the Roman governor is going to ride into town and crucify 3000 people in one day. In retribution. For an insult.
Your husband, Ari Kazan, is a physicist who tells you every day you can’t change the future.
And you believe him. You’ve realized you can’t change the destiny of the City of God.
But you know one other thing. You’re part of the destiny of this city. What you do matters. If you can’t save the city, you can save your friends, the people you love.
There’s just one problem.
How are you supposed to help people who think you’re a witch woman?
People who don’t believe a word you say?
People who think God is about to begin a war of liberation?
People who hate you, because they know you’re fighting God?
How do you save people who don’t think they need saving?
How much are you willing to risk to save people who despise you?
Will you risk your life?
Your husband’s life?
Your daughter’s life?
About The Book
Retribution is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and adventure. It’s about making hard ethical choices between two terrible wrongs. It’s about digging deep to help people who won’t be helped. It’s about being a badass fighter for justice, even when you’re fresh out of easy answers to hard questions.
Retribution won the 2005 Carol award for best Christian historical novel.
Retribution will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous adventure through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem, right into the jaws of the catastrophic Jewish revolt that began in the year 66.
Retribution is the third novel in the City of God series:
Book 1: Transgression (A.D. 57)
Book 2: Premonition (A.D. 57-62)
Book 3: Retribution (A.D. 62-66)
Now that you’re there, you want to go home.
But you can’t.
Your name is Rivka Meyers, and you are a total misfit.
You time-traveled from 21st century Jerusalem back to the year AD 57. Misfit.
You’re a woman living in a culture where men buy their wives. Misfit.
You married the man who followed you back in time, but you’re a Christian, and he’s Jewish. Misfit.
You have a photographic memory, and that’s your curse. Because you read all the history books and you know what’s coming. Disaster for the City of God.
There’s an old man in this city you love. He’s kind to everyone. He treats you like a human. Even though you’re a woman. And you know he’s going to die.
Because you read his story in the history books. He is James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. The leader of the Jesus Movement in Jerusalem. And in the year AD 62, he’s going to be murdered by the same family of priests who hounded Jesus to the cross.
This man James has five years to live. You know very well you can’t change the future.
Your husband, Ari Kazan, is a physicist who tells you every day you can’t change the future.
But it’s your moral duty to change the future.
You are a stubborn cuss. Always have been. Always will be.
If there’s a way to get around the laws of physics, you’re going to find it.
Because you love James with your whole heart.
You would rather die than let him be murdered.
You may just get your wish.
About The Book
Premonition is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about becoming the person you were meant to be. It’s about learning to accept harsh reality when you’d really rather quit and go home. It’s about being a badass fighter for justice, even when you’re fresh out of easy answers to hard questions.
Premonition won the 2004 Carol award for best Christian historical novel.
Premonition will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous adventure through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem.
Premonition is the second novel in the City of God series:
Book 1: Transgression (A.D. 57)
Book 2: Premonition (A.D. 57-62)
Book 3: Retribution (A.D. 62-66)
Nazareth has been cruel to my mother, more cruel than any village ever was.
All the village says that my blood father is not the man who married my mother.
They have shamed her on the matter all my life.
Every woman asks which man of the village is my blood father.
Every man scowls and says he was not the one my mother seduced.
My mother will not tell who is my blood father.
My mother will not speak on the matter.
My mother bears her shame in silence.
Some righteous man, a prophet, said a word over me when I was a babe in arms. He told how I will redeem Israel when I grow to be a man.
Now I have grown to be a man, but I do not know how to redeem Israel. The scriptures do not explain the matter.
My people say that the man who redeems Israel must take up the sword and throw off our enemy, Rome, which we call the Great Satan.
My family says I must take up the sword.
Only I am no man of the sword. I wish with all my heart to redeem Israel, but HaShem, the God of our fathers, must tell me how.
Lately, there came a new prophet to Israel, who immerses for repentance at the river Jordan.
I went to ask the prophet how I should redeem Israel.
He said I am to smite the four Powers.
I asked what are the four Powers.
He could not say, but he said HaShem will reveal the matter to me.
I wish HaShem will reveal the matter, only I am not a prophet. Not yet.
But I will be.
Here is what I know. Every hour of every day, I feel the Presence of HaShem.
I do not know why I should feel the Presence always. My mother does not. My village does not. Even the prophet of HaShem does not.
I think the Presence will teach me the way to redeem Israel.
But I am afraid to redeem Israel.
To redeem Israel is to leave my mother to the scorn of the village.
The rage of the village.
My mother begs and cries on me to make a justice for her.
To make a justice on the village.
I do not know how to make a justice on the village.
I do not know how to redeem Israel.
But HaShem will show me the way.
I will learn how to be a prophet of HaShem.
I will learn how to redeem Israel.
I will learn how to make a justice for my mother.
I will smite the first Power.
Or I will die in the trying.